You may remember us advertising free TB tests in October at Vargas and Lakewood. As you know, having a valid TB test is a requirement of being a parent volunteer at SSD schools, so this is often a barrier to getting people to help out at their students’ schools. So, you may be thinking, how’d those go?
Well… we facilitated 68 TB tests, 49 skin tests and 19 blood tests. (Blood tests are necessary for people who have been inoculated.) Parents and other potential volunteers from all 10 SSD schools were tested, most people from Vargas and Lakewood Elementary Schools, which is where the tests were given. This is great! We were anticipating about 30 people per day of testing (there were 2), so we’re happy to have made this impact.
There were many lessons learned (that we’ll use to smooth out future testing days), but the biggest one was how few people knew that there was a risk assessment worksheet they can have their doctor fill out to avoid taking a TB test at all! (I think this is the form; do check with your school to confirm.) Many of the school offices have these forms. This is definitely the easier option!
Hopefully we’ll be able to offer this again next year. If we do, we’ll do it at different schools. Your donation would help ensure that we can offer these tests again! Thanks for your support.
